AI helps IT teams resolve incidents faster, report finds

New data suggests that generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is delivering measurable benefits for IT organizations and their IT Service Management (ITSM) efforts.

According to the State of ITSM Report 2025 from SolarWinds, IT organizations that introduced genAI into their service desk workflows were able to cut their average incident resolution times by 17.8%, saving 4.87 hours per ticket on average. SolarWinds’ findings are based on anonymized data from more than 2,000 ITSM systems and more than 60,000 aggregated data points logged between August 2024 and July 2025.

“By leveraging GenAI, ITSM teams can reclaim time and resources once spent on routine tasks, enabling them to focus on strategic initiatives that drive real business value,” said Lauren Okruch, Senior Manager for ITSM at SolarWinds, in a statement. “Looking ahead, embracing technologies like genAI isn’t just about efficiency—it’s a strategic imperative for organizations aiming to innovate, stay ahead of change, and transform IT from a support function into a proactive driver of growth.”

SolarWinds also collected data on the top 10 AI adopters. The results showed that the top 10 AI adopters experienced a 54.3% improvement in resolution time—dropping from nearly 51 hours per incident to a little more than 23 hours. These top 10 organizations differentiated from other organizations in the study by treating AI as a core component of their ITSM strategy rather than a test pilot, embedding it directly into ticketing, triage, and knowledge workflows, according to SolarWinds.

Across all AI-enabled organizations, SolarWinds estimated that more than 323,000 cumulative hours were saved during the study. For a typical mid-sized IT team handling 5,000 incidents annually, SolarWinds calculated that the efficiency translates into an estimated $680,000 in reclaimed productivity, based on an average help desk wage of $28 per hour. The report also highlighted a growing efficiency gap between AI users and those yet to adopt genAI. Teams using genAI averaged 22.5 hours per incident, while non-AI users averaged 32.5 hours.

The report emphasizes that success depends on more than technology alone. The biggest efficiency improvements came from teams coupling AI adoption with process refinement and change management, SolarWinds says.

As the report states, “While GenAI is not a standalone solution, these numbers suggest it plays a meaningful role in supporting faster resolution, especially when paired with existing ITSM best practices. GenAI is one piece of the larger strategy, but it works best when combined with well-defined processes and a commitment to continuous improvement.”